My inauguration blog! I feel privileged to be a part of this creative, informative, and insightful bunch known as the Ivey bloggers. Let me set the stage for myself. I was born in Nepal, but grew up in Ottawa, completed the Computer Engineering program at the U of Waterloo, worked two and a half years in Silicon Valley as a Bluetooth chip designer, and dedicated another year and a half in starting a website business, www.mynexth.com. This blog is one of many that will continue to highlight my experiences at Ivey and the adventures and challenges of transitioning back into the workforce. It is, after all, just a one year program and this vacation (although, in which vacations do you actually put in more work?!) will end quicker than it started.
It’s been two months. Class consensus is that time must be slower in London than the outside world. How else could we have learned the complexities of business analytics in a matter of weeks? While also developing such strong friendships? And so many experiences? The speedy absorption of ideas stems from the collaborative learning environment of Ivey. The first module at Ivey teaches a valuable lesson: one must be able to lean forward and present their thoughts and experiences in light of criticism; sometimes you fall, but quite often you defy gravity. Your points are taken in heed, and the collective understanding of the issue at hand has been leveraged through your experiences.
In that respect, our class does not have 72 students, but rather 72 teachers and a facilitator. The class is an experienced bunch from different sectors and backgrounds, each having participated in the business world and formed viewpoints, faced challenges, failed and succeeded. We have witnessed the world from 72 pairs of eyes; Ivey provides an opportunity to take a moment and reflect in order to construct a painting from its pieces the best we can. As the class grows, so does each student. I notice people gaining comfort in sharing their knowledge, and as per the snowball effect, the class is progressing in increasing steps. Revisiting the analogy mentioned above, students are not only leaning forward more often but further as well. In the information age where there are boundless of issues and threats to consider, the confidence and decisive nature encouraged in the classroom is preparing us to tackle the management dilemma of the twenty-first century.
Sunil has an entrepreneurial background through establishing www.mynexth.com, a service that provides unique recommendations based on prior experiences. Prior to this, Sunil worked in the Silicon Valley as a chip design engineer for Marvell Semiconductors within the Bluetooth division. He assumed this role after earning his Bachelors in Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo. Time to time, Sunil is a sports enthusiast involved in basketball, soccer and marathon runs; he exhibits a passion for writing and carries the dream of publishing a novel.